Harry Poter and the Stag's Assembly
by nomotor
Summary: A Harry Potter series set post the original novels. This novel jumps straight into the action and I'm trying to endeavour to never have something big not happening. I have remained as faithful to the novels as I can.
1. Chapter 1 - Old Friends

**Chapter 1: Old Friends**

It had been several months now that the world, both wizarding and muggle, had known peace. The greatest dark wizard to have ever existed, Lord Voldemort, had been vanquished by Harry, Ron and Hermione, with of course some undeniable help from their Hogwarts Professors. It had felt like an eternity for the trio with endless interviews and events happening since. There was a certain calm that was now felt by the wizarding world at large which had not existed for over 50 years.

Following Harry's triumph over Lord Voldemort, there was a high demand for him to be made the new Minister for Magic. He declined however saying such planning role really weren't for him, however on becoming an Auror he was promptly promoted to a position of authority allowing him to work unassisted on his own abilities and intuition; an honour not usually given to an Auror before they had completed 15 years of service.

Hermione Granger had been approached also to see if she was interested in becoming Minister for Magic, she however thought her skills were far more suited to an education role; where she could teach students who needed to learn rather than teach a ministry who should have always known better. In this short period, and through great support from her former Professors and peers, she was elevated to become the youngest Headmistress the school had ever had. Hermione had taken on this role with great humility, always seeking the advice of others before proceeding with any decision. Rather than lower her perceived position or authority, this had actually elevated her in the public's eye and swelled her support as Headmistress of the school.

Ron Weasley had not been approached to become Minister of Magic. In all honesty, he didn't mind that much as it wasn't a role he aspired to following the corruption he saw through completing his school years; all the same, it stung a little that he wasn't at least asked.

He applied along with Harry to become an Auror however, and given the reputation he had developed in helping lead to the demise of Lord Voldemort, he was currently a rank below Harry, and Harry's Student. This was a bonus to both of them if anything, as they were already familiar with each other's fighting styles when they entered the roles, and meant they could hang out in their spare time.

Harry and Ron were walking down Diagon Alley having just addressed a threat at the Wizarding Bank Gringotts.

"He found more than treasure there this time," Ron mused to Harry. "A whole bloody army of Goblins with their spells and weapons and dragons..."

"Yes," replied Harry. "And no. I mean, yes, he certainly found more trouble than he was looking for, but no - he didn't really seem close to actually reaching any treasure."

The duo laughed as they approached The Leaky Cauldron, looking forward to a few cold pints of Butterbeer to finish their day.

Aurors really hadn't been required at Gringotts, the Goblins running the bank more than had the situation under control with their own security measures. When Harry and Ron had turned up they had found the two would-be thieves trapped up to their necks in a rock wall, with a horde of goblins pointing exceptionally sharp and powerful swords at them. Add to this, the roars of what sounded like a dragon were filling the air around them, neither Harry nor Ron could really blame the two captured felons for being petrified and putting up little resistance to being sent to a holding cell in the Ministry of Magic to await trial.

Harry still had a smile on his face as a green fire erupted beside them both out of a bin. The face of Kingsley Shaklebolt, the new Minister for Magic, appeared in the flames, and the look on his face wiped the smiles clean off of Harry and Ron's.

"Minister?"

"Disaster! Meeting?!" The was a mix of pain and fear in the Minister's voice which sent a shiver down Harry's spine and put him straight into Auror-Mode. They needed a place to talk and devise a strategy of some sort. The answer that came to Harry was plainly obvious, "Hogwarts."

The Minister understood Harry's meaning and his face and the fire disappeared from the bin. Harry and Ron both turned on the spot and appeared at the one ministry fireplace with access to the School, to see the flames within it dying down as the tailcoat of Kingsley vanished through it. The pair each grabbed a handful of floo-powder from the ever-full pot beside them and stepped into the grate throwing down the powder and yelling "Hogwarts!"

As they emerged from the fireplace into the office they both knew so well, rather than feeling the calm that usually settled over Harry in this safe place, there was instead a panic as every former Headmaster and Headmistress looking down at the Kingsley Shacklebolt intently, and the current Headmistress looking entirely shocked by the sudden apparition of the Minister for Magic and her two best-friends in her office.

"Minister!?" Began Hermione, shocked but timidly. "What's wrong?"

"Grindelwald." Stated Kingsley flatly. "Gellert Grindelwald."

"He was killed!" Ron pointed out immediately. "Voldemort killed him!"

Kingsley Shacklebolt's eyes passed over Ron in a grave stare. "Voldemort tried to kill him. It seems however that his soul was not entirely in his body in Nurmengard."

"Horcruxes?!" Exclaimed Harry in disbelief. When was this going to end?

"That's what we think," replied the Minister. "There could be something else though, it's just something this time. Something's different."

"But we can get him now!" Ron jumped to his feet in excitement. "If we start destroying them now, we'll get him before he starts! It took Voldemort years to recover enough strength to become dangerous, and even then he had to use some muppet like Quirrell. We can go and get them now and he'll never come back!" Ron looked up at Harry walking slowly around the office staring at the ground ahead of him with a frown, then over to Kingsley standing steadfast next to a queasy Hermione in her chair.

"But they know, Ron." Hermione looked up at the Minister. "You know he survived."

"His body disappeared from the Nurmengard graveyard. Along with every living prisoner and every enchantment keeping Nurmengard secure. That prison was a fortress, more powerful than even Azkaban, only Grindelwald, it's creator; knew of every spell and secret it held." Shacklebolt seemed to be at more ease now the depth of the problem was off his chest, yet all the weaker for having said it.

A deafening-silence filled the office following these remarks. Shacklebolt interrupted it with, "So now we have the second darkest wizard of all time on the loose somewhere, and potentially every prisoner of the most dangerous citadel at his command."

"I thought Azkaban was the most dangerous prison?" Questioned Ron, as he perched down on a small cupboard to the side of the room.

"Azkaban has Dementors," replied Kingsley simply. "Nurmengard didn't need them. Its very walls had been imbued with that sense of death and destruction. It had magic in it beyond what we can imagine."

"But how could this have happened!?" Yelled Hermione in frustration. "How could he have just done this?"

"He had been in that prison for many years Hermione," responded Harry. "Since before Tom Riddle was even born! Who knows what he has come up with since. He could have been plotting his return for a long, long time."

"Plotting a return from the grave?" Asked Ron in disbelief as Harry walked back to the centre of the office.

A wave of thought passed over Harry as he turned to look at his three companions at once. "A return following Dumbledore death. He probably wanted to wait till Voldemort was out of the way too so he could be the strongest!" Harry looked up into the late Albus Dumbledore portrait whose sad face nodded in agreement. He looked across to Severus Snape's portrait next to Dumbledore's whose pointy face was in a similar state of grim concern.

"It doesn't make any sense!" Hermione protested. "If such a fast recovery was possible then why didn't Voldemort do it? How did he restore himself enough to break in and retrieve his body; and if his body was in that graveyard..." Hermione trailed off in exasperated thought.

"Then what in the name of Merlin's saggy left-testicle dug up Grindelwald's body?" Finished Ron.

Harry was staring down at the feet of the desk Hermione was sitting behind. He then looked up into the eyes of his former Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, remembering Grindelwald was once his companion.

"I'm afraid I can't help you much with this one Harry. When I knew him we were both much younger. We may have shared some of our ambitions and ideas but... When I came to realize he had far more thoughts of the greater power and dominance it seems he has now achieved..." Dumbledore trailed off with the spark of the legendary battle he had had with Grindelwald in his eyes. "We have gone in separate directions since; it was a long long time ago... On Horcruxes I have some literature that could assist you-"

"We already have it," interjected Hermione.

All eyes turned to her. "I summoned it through your office window at the end of sixth year after... after your fall."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with that same knowledge even in his sadness. "As I expected you to. However there are others. Books with curses and magical procedures so terrible I didn't dare bring them to this castle. These are texts I uncovered when I was looking into the actions of Tom. I only hope you can put them to use."

"Where are they?" Asked Harry immediately. Finally here was something they could find that might move them closer to overcoming this impossible challenge before them.

The answer was simple. "Godrics Hollow".

Harry was walking towards the fireplace at once and Ron jumped to follow him.

"Wait Harry!" Dumbledore called from his portrait. "Gellert does not know they're there so they are safe for now. There are other things you will need however which her may be wanting and in pusuit of immediately."

Ron's face was tired and perplexed. "Like what?"

Hermione jumped up and exclaimed, "The Elder Wand! Harry!"

At first Harry was excited, but then fell back. "If he defeats me, he'll become it's master."

"He'll be it's master whether you fight using it or not Harry," prompted Hermione. "Remember how you won it from Malfoy"

Harry left the office in a dash for Dumbledore's tomb in the grounds, the home of the Elder Wand.

"Do you think the wand will be strong enough to defeat him Professor?" Ron asked Dumbledore's portrait as he sat back on a window sill at the side of the office.

"I'd rather Harry have it than Gellert," he said plainly. "In known magic it will always win, but what you'll face, we really cannot say."

"But Albus!" The voice of the former Headmaster Armando Dippet piped up. "Surely you have some other ideas on how to help them besides a powerful wand and powerful magic! You united the Order of the Phoenix! You must be able to help them more!"

Dumbledore gave a humorless smile and replied, "Oh no, my time has passed for this sort of thing. It will be Harry and Ron, and Hermione if you'll join them, that will need to recruit and work for themselves. Myself, I'm confined to my portrait."

Hermione looked up at Ron as they waited for Harry's return. "Think it's time we reunite the DA?" She asked.

Ron was silent in thought for a moment before responding, "It's Harry's Army now. And most of them are too far away to get a hold of immediately. Nearby we just have... Neville."

Neville Longbottom came storming up the stairs with Harry as they both sped into the office.

"Voldemort's back?!" Neville yelled out in shock. Neville, who played an instrumental role in the DA and in Voldemort's downfall; and in fact had destroyed Nagini, Voldemort's snake Horcrux with the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

"No Neville," said Hermione, still behind her desk as Ron stood up to give Neville a one-armed hug. "Gellert Grindelwald... he's returned."

Neville spent a moment in thought. "Grindelwald..."

"Dumbledore's old friend," helped Ron. "The one he had the big fight with. Voldemort killed him after he said Dumbledore had the Elder Wand. Well... we thought that's what happened anyway."

"He's somehow returned, broken out everyone from the prison he built and we think is looking to take over like Voldemort." Harry said. "We don't know how he did it."

"And," started the Minister slowly, "he's had decades upon decades to plan, so we need to act quickly."

Neville looked at Harry, then Ron and Hermione. "We? The DA? The Order of the Phoenix?"

"No Neville," interjected Ron quickly. "We need to get this done ourselves with people we know we can trust." He caught Harry's eye as he continued. "We need to be led by you Harry. The Stag's Assembly."


	2. Chapter 2 - United We Stand

**Chapter 2: United We Stand**

12 Grimmauld Place was the most functional place to gather the Stag Assembly.

Word had gone out to former members of Dumbledore's Army and The Order of the Phoenix where the trio could use help or connections, but the reality was that they had little time and needed to figure out where to go to first.

Naturally all of the Weasleys were immediately invited. Not only were they family, but Arthur's position in the Ministry, Charlie's connections to Dragons, Bill's relationships with the Goblins and experience in curses, Percy's former work in the Ministry and Molly's cooking; they each had definite forseeable uses.

George Weasley had never removed the bandage from his long severed ear. He said it reminded him of the best times of his life and left it at that. He and Ginny were both extremely gifted with small spells and weapons. Convincing Ginny to leave her final year at Hogwarts had not been difficult. She pointed out quite matter-of-factly that it's exactly what Harry had done.

The others they had invited were Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang, Dean Thomas; plus naturally Neville and Kingsley.

Harry was leafing through one of the book's he had recovered from Godric's Hollow after following Dumbledore's instructions.

"Could he have practiced magic without a wand though?" Ginny was leaning against Harry on the sofa." I mean, I get that he had all that time but, he can't have had a wand, or potions or anything else magical. And like you told me, Nurmengard was full of charms causing sadness and keeping prisoners weak. How do you know it was him?"

Harry slowly turned the page of Malevolent Magic. This book had contained some truly horrific things and he was only a couple of pages in. "There was no one else," Harry said flatly. "No one had that kind of power or could have known how to disarm that prison."

Ron came over and flopped down in the sofa opposite them.

"Of course, it makes you wonder," he commented. "Was Nurmengard ever built to affect him?"

"I don't really think that kind of Magic can be cast to exclude one person like that though Ron." Hermione followed Ron out of the kitchen carrying a jug of lemonade for them all to share, with Kreacher right behind her holding a tray of sandwich triangles. It was clear that Ron had just been discussing this theory with her.

"But what if it was right? Or wait! No, what if when he got thrown in there he was able to mumble some charms and that started to protect him?"

There was a moment's silence as everyone gathered around the coffee table between the sofas had a sandwich and a drink.

"I suppose that's possible," replied Hermione slowly as she placed her glass down on the table. "But it was powerful dark magic guarding that castle. We don't even know what it was let alone how to protect against it."

Harry threw Hermione the next book in the pile, "See if you can find it then."

"Nurmengard isn't a problem anymore," she said grimly, though she opened the book and started looking through it all the same.

Harry's head was throbbing as he thought of the challenge ahead of them. _Power,_ he thought. _Knowledge and time. We just need_ more _. Power... Power..._

His eyes passed over a section in the book on his lap before they locked onto it.

Potent Power Proxy. This spell allows for Magic users to pool their power together and call on the collective power of their group in battle. WARNING: The fate of each group member is magically

tied from the casting of the spell. From that moment forth, every group member will be affected to some level should a companion be cursed. The death of group members will leave survivors with great sadness and emptiness for the rest of their lives.

"Everyone! Living room, now!"

"A dark mark tattoo?"

Tension was high around the room as Harry discussed his idea to everyone.

"It looks like it will involve a tattoo of some kind, though not one that burns like Voldemort's did. They let us share our power so that if we're caught on our own or need more power, we can lend strength to each other."

"But, the warning!" Cho piped up. "Can it ever be reversed?"

Hermione pulled the book in front of her and squinted her eyes as she read closely.

"It doesn't say. So I'm guessing it probably doesn't. It uses words like always and forever, and if death can't break it..." Hermione looked up at everyone in front of her. "We'll be bound like this forever."

There was a shared silence following this statement which was broken only by George stepping forward as he pulled up his sleeve to expose his forearm. "Do me. We need this to defeat him. We need everyone."

"It's not that simple George," Hermione responded with some sympathy. Everyone realised it was George who knew the emotional upheaval it would mean should one of them die. The bandage still wrapped around the top of his head paid lasting testament to just how severe the loss would be, but also as proof of how much stronger they could all be united.

"It's quite a tricky potion and spell, with some ingredients that will be hard to find. Unicorn horn, Dragon heart, Mermaid scales, Faerie wings, Chimaera Egg and blood, Griffin feathers, Manticore blood and... the life of a Phoenix."

"The life?!" Exclaimed Ron an a few of his brothers.

"Oh, I've heard it's very bad luck to kill a Phoenix don't you know," mentioned Luna. She looked at the ceiling as she fiddled with a necklace full of very odd symbols. "It was in the Quibbler, a man once did it and was haunted by Deathly Drudarkalls the rest of his life."

Hermione began reading from the book. "Ensure each ingredient is measured in exact quantity and added with the referenced incantation by the Sorcerer whom retrieved it. The flame of a Phoenix's death will then be required to combine the ingredients, from which the bird will not regenerate."

"I can manage the Dragon heart," said Charlie. "It won't be easy but it should be possible."

"There are Chimaera eggs in some vaults at Gringotts," added Bill. "They're a Class-A non-tradeable-good but they're there, I'm sure there'll be blood there as well."

"We can't crack Gringotts again and poke around vaults though Bill," rebutted Ron as he ran his hands through his head.

"No, but there might be another way. Like I said Ron, they're highly illegal to be bought or sold so no one can just carry them out of Gringotts and swap them for a room filled with Galleons, but if they tell the Goblins to transfer non-classified items between vaults; the Ministry won't know and the Goblins don't care. If we can just make one of these transfers take place while I'm working down there," he directly at Harry and Ron, "with Auror back-up. Well, we might be able to make a switch."

"There are mermaids in the Hogwarts lake," said Dean as he stepped forward. "Maybe we could convince one of them?"

"Not unless they speak Mermish!" Pointed out Percy immediately following Dean's proposal. All eyes turned to look at him. "I know someone in the Ministry who can speak it. I suppose I could learn some phrases from him in strictest confidences and help you with it."

"That will be fantastic Percy," said Hermione with her eyes still locked onto parchment in front of her scribbling something down. "Which leaves -"

"I've heard Faeries and Unicorns are best friends," said Luna dreamily, still gazing at the ceiling. "Maybe if we find some Faeries in the Forbidden Forest they'll carry a Unicorn to us. They're very strong you know, Faeries."

There was a confused silence following Luna's comment. No one was quite sure what to make of what she said, until -

"That's actually not a bad idea Luna. The Faeries aren't going to want us taking their wings from them while they're living, neither are unicorns; however they do often appear together in stories. In fact, I remember professor Grubbly-Plank mentioning they linger at the edge of forests during evenings of new-moon." She flipped to a calendar in a nearby book. "That's not long from now. Luna, if you could go down to the edge of the forest and explain the situation."

"Oh yes," replied Luna. "Yes, I'm quite good friends with the ones at school."

"We just need the items Luna, they can be from dead bodies." Said Cho. "I'll go with you to help."

Harry looked down at the table and saw Hermione had been preparing a list of ingredients and the people responsible for each.

"I don't know where we're going to find Griffin feathers or Manticore blood. And the only Phoenix we've known of was Fawkes who just kind of disappeared."

"I can help you find the Manticore Harry, although I might need some help retrieving the blood" Kingsley said as he stepped forward and placed a hand on Arthur Weasley's shoulder. "As for the Griffin feathers, I do recall you telling me of your encounters with some of these marvelous creatures whilst visiting your son in Egypt."

"Yes," said Mr Weasley as he suddenly leapt to his feet. He seemed to be happy to have been given a role he felt confident in achieving. "Molly and I will do that as soon as you need Minister! Harry!"

"So that's everything except the Phoenix," said Harry.

"And everyone except Neville, Ginny and me," added Hermione. "We need everyone to contribute; it's part of the magic. We each add what we retrieve."

"I'll help Mr Shacklebolt," Neville offered.

Kingsley looked at Neville with a warm smile. "Mr Longbottom! I have heard you've performed magic which would do your parents proud, dear Frank and Alice."

Neville went over and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Kingsley and the room resumed a silence.

"I'll help you too Minister," said Hermione. "I've read all about Manticores and they really are terrifyingly deadly and extremely rare."

"I can get the Phoenix," Ginny said as she stood from the sofa and looked around at everyone. "I always loved Fawkes. I'll speak with Dumbledore's portrait about it."

The room continued to watch her as she sat back down and looked into Harry's eyes. "I'll find one. I promise." And she kissed his lips.

"Well, there it is then," said Hermione as she pushed the list forward into the centre of the table.

Dragon heart - Charlie's work

Chimaera Egg and blood - Bill Weasley with Harry and Ron at Gringotts

Mermaid scales - Dean and Percy at Hogwarts lake

Unicorn horn and Faerie wings - Luna and Cho from Forbidden Forest

Manticore blood - Kingsley, Neville and Hermione

Griffin feathers - Mr and Mrs Weasley

Phoenix fire - Ginny with Dumbledore's help

"How much time do you think we have?" Asked Neville.

"We don't know," replied Harry, "But not long. If he's waited this long to break out, I rather doubt he's going to need much time before he starts taking over and putting muggles in their place. His idea was that Wizards deserve control as we're more powerful. Anyone who stands in his way who's less powerful than him... well, it doesn't look good."

A long silence followed these words .

"The new moon is tomorrow night. That means we need to be ready to start this the instant Cho and Luna return from the forest." Harry announced to them all. "We need everyone else to be here by 8 o'clock tomorrow night so that the instant we have all of the ingredients, we can start, okay?"

There was a murmur of agreement throughout the room and as everyone dispersed to their roles Harry stood with Ron and Bill. This was potentially going to a challenge of equal size to the battle at Hogwarts, and this was simply putting together a slim chance for their victory against Grindelwald.

A slim chance would just have to do.


	3. Chapter 3 - When Old Becomes New

**Chapter 3: When Old Becomes New**

"Hahahahahahaha!"

Grindelwald's laughter filled the damp forest surrounding them all. He had waited endless years to enact the scheme he had been plotting for over 50 years. He'd struck at precisely the right time, just when the public awareness was at its lowest; and what a success it had been.

He stood amongst the prisoners he'd released, restored back to his youthful 23 year old body. He had retained however all of his skill, all of his knowledge, and all of his power.

He had of course ensured his immortality before his battle with Albus Dumbledore had placed him in his own prison, he just hadn't have the required skill to defeat Dumbledore at the time of their battle.

Dumbledore was long dead now however, and Tom Riddle had come and gone. He was truly the most powerful wizard alive and was now destined to remain so for the rest of time.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Gellert Grindelwald's laughter approached hysteria as he gathered materials in the deserted forest they had found to produce wands for himself and his army.

Not long now.

Not long now.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Sphinx's Challenge

**Chapter 4: The Sphinx's Challenge**

Undoubtedly the largest dragon on Earth, the Ukrainian Ironbelly, stood in front of Charlie in the barren Egyptian Desert. This magnificent Dragon weighed over 6 tonnes and they had been known to live for hundreds of years. The females of the species lay eggs just once in their lifetimes, and with all of the fighting between wild dragons that took place over territory, this led to small population numbers.

The Dragon standing in front of Charlie had aged at least 550 years, though they couldn't be certain of an exact birth dated . Charlie walked forward and examined her enormous talons extending from her feet. They were magnificent, yet their colour had begun fading a few weeks earlier and he could now detect signs of cracking; a sign for dragons that her death was imminent. If he could just get the heart.

"You're not going to get it like that you know; and if you don't try another way, you never will." A soft voice that was as smooth, if not smoother than silk, crooned behind Charlie.

"Your colleagues will never let you have it. This Dragon is far too important for you to just cut her open."

A fully grown Sphinx slowly walked up and stood alongside Charlie.

"I know," Charlie replied grimly. The potion recipe didn't specify the quality of the Dragon heart that needed to be retrieved,but Charlie knew this Dragon possessed the strongest heart that had existed in recordable wizarding history; which if he remembered from Hogwarts correctly, was quite some time ago.

"I just wish I could think of a way to get this Dragon's heart, after its passing of course."

"You cannot retrieve this Dragon's heart on your own Charlie Weasley." The Sphinx was staring directly into Charlie's eyes. "The scales on this Dragon's hide will take at least 20 powerful wands to so much as leave a mark. Even the most powerful Goblin blades will take far too long for you to break through her skin, and then what will you do?"

The Sphinx strutted to stand in front of Charlie. He appreciated her wise words confirming his thoughts, but wished she would tell him something he could use to help him retrieve this heart. Other Dragon hearts would do, the potion recipe never specified; but this heart would contain so much more magical power than that of a Welsh Green, or even a Hungarian Horntail. If he could just find a way to bust the Dragon open and retrieve the heart somehow.

"It will not work Charlie Weasley." The voice of the Sphinx came from his side. "You have no means of opening a Dragon this powerful, and if you did what would you do?" The Sphinx had evidently been reading his thoughts whilst standing at his side.

"You do not know these animals as I do Charlie Weasley." He voice continued.

"The blood of thus Dragon will incinerate anything it comes into contact with. The sand beneath your feet will turn to melted glass, and that wand in your hand will be reduced to flame and ash. A simple Aguamenti charm will not help you here Charlie Weasley."

Charlie looked at the Sphinx now. "I have a way Charlie Weasley, but it will cost you greatly in the eyes of Wizardkind.

Charlie was patient with the Sphinx. She had no idea the date of 'Wizardkind' depending on him retrieving this heart.

"But I do know, Charlie Weasley," the voice came again. "I know you are serving a most noble cause; and if you want any hope of returning to your friends, you must use my help to recover this Dragon's heart."

Charlie was hesitant, but nothing surely was more important than this quest he was in now.

"What do you require of me, Sphinx?" He asked slowly. "The answer to a riddle?"

"At first, yes." Said the Sphinx as she began to strut around him. "To prove yourself worthy. But then more. Much, much more."

Charlie watched the Sphinx as she circled him, then steadied his focus and asked what she needed. This time the voice rang not in his ears, but in his mind.

A riddle simple for Muggles but no witch or wizard has yet passed. Good luck Charlie Weasley. I will help you if you can tell me when ninety-nine is more than one-hundred."*

Charlie bowed his head in instant defeat. An impossible request. He should have known better than to put his faith in a Sphinx. She would only ever ask him an impossible question after taunting him saying a muggle could answer such riddles.

He shook his head in frustration, his pony-tail lashing out. His Dad used to run the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. If any muggle could get this he knew he could. Ninety-nine... One-hundred...

His Dad could answer this. He could picture his face as he returned home crestfallen and without the Dragon heart. This task could NOT overcome him.

Charlie tried to think back to something his dad had said about muggles that could make this seemingly impossible thing occur.

"I'm waiting Charlie Weasley."

He needed to think. He needed to think.

The only thing his dad was ever concerned with was muggle toys and appliances that ran on muggle power. He could picture them in his head, the things they'd use to wash up, and to cook food.

It was no use. As amazing as muggle technology was, nothing was able to change the laws of mathematics. Either way though, Charlie would have to give an answer soon or lose out entirely. He was running out of time...

Time...

"TIME!" Blurted out Charlie. "On muggle time keeping devices, 99 is 99 seconds, but 100 would mean one minute which is 60 seconds. There! Ninety-nine is more than one-hundred by a margin of.. thirty-nine seconds!"

The Sphinx circled Charlie. "You have chosen well Charlie Weasley. You've proven your knowledge of Muggle items. This is most important so you know why you're different." She paused and then stared right at him. "I have one more question before I can help you. You must prove yourself as a powerful and worthy wizard now."

Another riddle?! His time really was running out now. One of his colleagues could apparate next to him at any second and the game would be up.

"Yes? Hurry! Will you get me the heart after this?!"

The Sphinx just stared into Charlie's eyes before saying, "Within a hall stand three powerful rulers, an Emperor, a Priest, and the richest Goblin with all of his jewels and gold. In the centre of the room stands a short wizard with his wand, a little man of muggle-birth and no great mind. Each of the strong leaders in turn bids the wizard to slay the other two. 'Kill them,' says the Emperor, 'for I am your lawful ruler.' 'No! Kill them!' Says the priest, 'for I command you in the name of God and speak to you God's will.' 'You fool, kill them,' says the rich goblin, 'and all of this wealth shall be yours.' So tell me Charlie Weasley – who holds the greatest power? Will the Emperor, the Priest or the rich goblin convince the wizard? Who lives and who dies?"*

This was more the riddle that Charlie had expected from the Sphinx. Long and obscure with several likely answers, but he knew they could be only one right one.

The Emperor was not the most powerful, Charlie first determined. He offered the wizard nothing in return for doing his bidding.

The Priest could have been the most powerful. He had the power of God behind him after-all. The Wizard would be made a living Saint by the Priest for his actions and showered in wealth..

But then the Goblin. He had the wealth already, and with no Emperor or Priest left to compete with, if the Wizard took all the Goblin's wealth, he would truly rule and have all the power!

The wizard...

The Sphinx's words came back to Charlie as he stared into the distance. _You must prove yourself as a powerful and worthy wizard..._

"The Wizard holds the power, Sphinx." Answered Charlie. "This is why the others are trying to buy his good favour. No matter which way the wizard goes, he is the wand-holder; he holds the power."

"Exactly!" The Sphinx jumped up into the air and moved her body around, then began walking back and forth in front of Charlie again, looking directly at him and speaking in his mind.

 _The Final task I have of you is to make me like one of you. Use your magic on me to make me a wand-bearer. Your ministry will not know, I can block their magic; and I will win a wand from one of your kind through my own means. Enable me the use of wand magic and I will retrieve you the Dragon heart and allow you to escape._

These words shocked and frightened Charlie, but what choice did he have? A few seconds more and his chance would be up and all of their lives would be as good as over!

"Fine!" Charlie had to concentrate his magic as the following her immensely complicated spells to pull off.

"Homorphus!"

The Sphinx's body began to slowly enlongate and she rose from four legs to two as the hair around her head shrank back. Charlie had no energy to pay attention to her transformation however as he next had to cast the even more difficult,

"Caduceus!"

Charlie almost passed-out from exhaustion, but he knew each spell had worked. He fell back onto the soft sand and struggled to keep his eyes open.

The Sphinx-woman walked over to him and knelt down by his head. "Thank you Charlie Weasley." He felt a sweet liquid touch his parched lips and he gulped it down greedily. He happily found himself restored to perfect strength. He noticed to his horror that the sun was sinking low toward the horizon. There would soon be a change in shift which meant he was going to be disturbed before long. He looked up at the Sphinx-woman with urgency in his eyes.

She returned his gaze and then directed him with her eyes, to look at the Dragon. As Charlie watched, he saw her take a last deep breath before the light left her eyes. She had passed away.

Before he could move, a Salamander appeared on the Dragon's shoulder and crawled up into the giant corpse's mouth.

Charlie turned to look at the Sphinx-woman.

"Salamanders come under my dominion as guardian of the desert and its treasures." She said. "They are the only creature that can survive the journey inside the Dragon's body. The fire in Dragon blood makes them stronger. Once it has reached this treasure for me I will be able to summon both it and the treasure that is this Dragon's heart back out. While I hold the heart in my magic you will need to quickly duplicate the Salamander's scales with your wand to create a protective casing for it which you will just need to vanish when you are ready for your spell to take place. Are you ready Charlie Weasley?"

Charlie nodded and watched the Sphinx-woman go into a deep trance. In an instant, the salamander appeared back where it had originated on the Dragon's shoulder, and hovering in the air above it surrounded by a purple glow was a heart the size of a large beach ball.

Charlie waved his wand back and forth thinking _Geminio, Engorgio._

A large sheet of the Salamander's scales appeared before him which he conjured to wrap around the heart. The purple glow faded from the air as Charlie ran forward to place his hand on the surface of the scales entombing the heart. He heard two cracks behind him which he knew were two colleagues apparating to join them. The instant he made contact with the heart and its casing he spun on the spot and apparated himself and his prize to the one hidden place that he knew they could not follow, 12 Grimmauld Place.


	5. Chapter 5 - Gryffindor

**Chapter 5 - Gryffindor**

The dry sand blew around their ankles as they walked toward the great pyramid of Giza. Arthur and Molly Weasley however were entirely unconcerned. They needed to retrieve feathers from a Griffin, their children's lives depended upon it.

As they neared the pyramid they saw a sparkle start to fill the air around them. This was part of an enchantment always in place to prevent muggles from being able to see the magical creatures and artifacts.

As they reached the base of the great pyramid, Arthur knelt down and tapped on one of the enormous sandstone blocks with his wand. He made a silent incantation as he had been taught on their last visit. As Arthur rose to brush the sand from his trousers, before them stood an enormous Griffin, which immediately advanced on them and closed it's wings around Arthur and Molly.

As the wings rose from around them, they were quite surprised to find their environment had changed to where could only be inside the great pyramid of Giza itself.

Arthur looked at the Griffin questioningly, it had however immediately turned its back upon them and begun walking away.

"I... we..." Put off by the Griffin's actions, neither of them knew how to proceed.

 _Your kind are guilty of a great many murders, now you come here seeking friendship?_ The Griffin's thoughts rang inside their heads.

"Our kind?" Asked Arthur, still uncertain of what had happened.

The Griffin looked back with loathing in its eyes. _Some of the greatest and wisest Elephants on earth have been slaughtered and dismembered by wand. They may not be magical animals, however they are still protected from being hunted for wizarding sport by your laws. You told me you were in the Ministry, Weasley. Why did you let this happen?_

"I didn't!" Stammered Arthur, "I-"

Comprehension dawned on Arthur and Molly simultaneously.

"The Wizard, or should I say Wizards, who did this we're not our kind. They were not our friends."

 _Not your kind?_

Molly stepped forward, "They're escaped prisoners. An evil wizard has returned. We don't know how. He returned from death and set free all of these prisoners from his gaol."

 _From death?!_

"We don't know how," supplied Arthur simply. "But we think we know why; and these elephants are just the beginning."

The Griffin turned around with eyes searching Arthur and Molly's faces for signs of deception. It mustn't have found any however as it then lay down and asked them, _Why are you here then?_

They explained the situation as well as they could without going into detail on the exact potion or spell they were crafting. The Griffin lay there looking at them sternly.

 _You require my feathers?_

"Yes," Molly answered. "Not all of them, just a few."

 _And you came all this way, alone, to ask this of me?_

"We don't want to hurt you, and we consider you a friend. We're looking for your help, so then we can start saving everyone."

 _Doing so much alone,_ the Griffin's eyes were switching between the two of them. _So very brave of you both. And will this defeat them?_

"We don't know," said Arthur. "We might never stop them. But this is our best hope. The world's best hope."

 _So brave... And loyal to your friends. I will help you, so long as I can have your word as friends that if this dark wizard and his army start attacking here, that you will all come here to protect us._

"Our word," vowed Arthur and Molly together. "As Gryffindors."


	6. Chapter 6 - What Awaits the Sin of Greed

p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"strongChapter 6: What Awaits the Sin of Greed/strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The Goblin-run bank Gringotts loomed ahead of the trio of Harry, Ron and Bill as they walked down Diagon Alley./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry couldn't help but feel envy for the people he saw happily going about their shopping, or the children with big grins on their faces as they sat outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. He would have loved to be there relaxing himself, or having a Butterbeer with his companions in the Leaky Cauldron; but no. No, he was doing this now so that everyone would be able to still do these things into the future./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The trio continued their walk through the massive doors to the front if the bank bearing its intimidating warning. They entered into an enormous marble hall containing long desks filled with Goblins measuring and testing different metals and jewels to determine their value./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The desks that were furthest from the entry were where the very most valuable and dangerous items were tested. There were several desks spaced along the back wall for people to visit their vaults, however a specialty desk was located off to the side with a large golden arch reaching over it./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""That's the desk for the very deepest and largest vaults," Bill murmured to them as they approached it. "Only one desk, only one deposit or transaction at a time, only one kart, multiple goblins. These are the most secure vaults available; of course they cost a vault full of Galleons to own."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""It's a wonder Dumbledore didn't keep the Philosopher's Stone in one of these," Harry said thinking back to his first ever visit to this bank./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""It would have cost too much," Bill said simply. "Besides, every one of the vaults like this is already owned by someone; they get traded like the goods within them. It would have caused far too much interest in what Dumbledore was hiding if he'd tried to negotiate to get one."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"When they reached the desk Bill spoke in a very tired and bored voice, "Aurors here to retrieve the remains of the wizard that jumped down here."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The Goblin sitting at the desk looked up with fury in its eyes that such a thing had happened. As he stared at them, the other goblins standing between the desk and the cart stepped forward./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Bill sighed and seemed slightly exasperated as he explained, "There was a wizard whom when attending his regular vault earlier on leapt from the cart part of the way down from part of the track that ensured he'd fall to these vaults. It seems he didn't realise that his wand and other magical enchantments on his body wouldn't work for any ordinary wizard like himself down there. I called on these two Aurors to retrieve his remains incase something troubling arises once they leave the protected areas."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It seemed Bill had this story rehearsed and thought it was something the Goblins would find likely. It seemed to work too as the three of them were guided back to a considerably larger and more luxurious cart than they were used to by two Goblins, which was able to fit all five of them quite comfortably./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was a truly odd sensation riding down in this cart, as while it still sped along the same winding tracks at great speed, the sensation within the cart was as if it wasn't moving at all./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry saw Ron look around in amazement at the changing environment around them, and it felt like they could have been watching a large television screen around them./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""We're here!" Barked one of the Goblins as the world around them came to a halt. The Goblin held the cart door open for them all to disembark before running a finger down the side of the cart./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The effect of this simple act was instantaneous, and the cart disassembled itself as a cart, and structured itself into a large door which cut off access to where the rails the cart had been on./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry looked around himself now and saw that up was really the only way out, and if magic didn't work down here.../p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Don't touch any of the vault doors!" Barked the Goblin which had served them initially./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What will happen if we do?" Ron asked. Harry caught his eye and Ron quickly followed with, "Just, if this Wizard fell and hit a vault door before the ground, you know? What would have happened to him?"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""He will be frozen in place there until we release him." The Goblin replied. "If we release him!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The two Goblins barked with laughter./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""As for what he'll experience while stuck there; I believe you are familiar with the effects of the Cruciatus curse?"br /br /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry, Ron and Bill walked further into the chamber./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""This," Harry thought, "is going to be complicated."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He flashed questioningly at Bill whom was walking forward slowly, potentially waiting for a stroke of brilliance to strike. "Come on!" Harry thought desperately. "You're a Gringotts curse breaker! Say something!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They kept inching forward with Bill when-/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Stop!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The words had come from Bill's mouth. Harry and Ron looked at him and he was now murmuring an endless string of words under his breath as if undoing complex enchantments. Taking his queue, they drew their wands and held them in front of themselves./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Bill turned to the Goblins and warned them, "Do not come beyond this line!" He referenced a line with his arm. "This is dark, strong magic," he continued. "These Aurors will require the use of their wands."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The Goblins were standing back near the door made from the cart looking curiously. One of them walked to the side of the room to a torch on the wall. At this Goblin's touch, every torch in the room suddenly went out./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Plunged into darkness, Harry raised his wand and called out, "Lumos Maxima!" A bright ball of light ascended into the air illuminating the chamber around them./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry, Ron and Bill were now able to continue down the chamber without being flanked by the Goblins, and without the risk of being overheard by them./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What do we do now?!" Asked Ron looking at the other two. "We're stuck down here, can't access the vaults without being tortured forever. Add to that, we don't know which, if any has the Chimaera egg and blood we need, and they're going to be watching us the whole time!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry thought and thought desperately as they walked slowly. "We need to curse them."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Bill shot him a warning look./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""And ourselves."Harry continued./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Bill's face lit up as he realized what Harry was suggesting./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""It needs to seem as if a curse has hit us all. In the midst of the drama we'll need to stun them or freeze them or something. We can modify their memories when we're done. That will give us a start."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry continued thinking, "It needs to seem like a surprise to us. It can't be magic they're used to seeing. We can't make them suspicious before we get the chance to jinx them, or they'll disable our wands and use their defensive magic against us, then the game will be up. What's a spell that I've learnt from Auror training... or an uncommon book..."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The solution came to him immediately, and the air was filled with Ron's yell as he was yanked into the air by the ankle./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Bill's yell was next to come before Harry performed the jinx on himself and did his best to mimic the cries of Ron and Bill. As he was yanked up he flailed his arms around quite purposefully so as to give him the chance to momentarily point his wand at each of the Goblins in turn./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Levicorpus, Levicorpus," he thought. Each Goblin, with looks of pure shock on their faces, was yanked into the air by an ankle. Harry committed their positions to memory, muttered "Knox", and then aimed his wand directly at each and yelled "Stupify! Immobulus!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"After being sure they were safe, Harry cast Lumos Maxima again, and then pointed his wand at each Weasley and himself thinking, "Liberacorpus."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The three wizards fell to the floor, and looked across the Chamber to see the two Goblins frozen with looks of pure shock on their faces./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Whoa, good thinking Harry!" Said Ron as he rubbed the back of his head and his lower back. "Mind giving us a bit of warning next time though?"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry smiled as they rose and straightened their Auror robes. "They needed to hear your shock, or they'd have gotten suspicious straight away. Now we have some time, but probably not long, we need a strategy."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry looked to Bill for guidance but Ron was looking around the chamber at the vault doors./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You know," Ron said. "These doors, they're all different, but the same in a few ways."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry jolted up with surprise and looked at the vault doors along the wall her was facing, then turned and looked at the doors behind him. Ron was right. Each door must have been designed by the owner. Some bore family crests with the parts moving like a wizard photograph, others contained images showing a variety of magical items and creatures; perhaps what the vaults contained, but many must have been boasts./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Half of the images like this contained creatures like Dragons and Manticores; beasts that would destroy the contents of any vault they were left in. The third common vault door design type was the image of large manors. These were probably the family manors of the owners of each./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""So," said Bill gazing around. "We need to find a vault with a Chimaera on the front?"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""No; well yes, but no." Said Harry. "These can't all be true. There's a Hungarian Horntail, and there's a Manticore. Those can't actually be in there, but they want us to think they are. It's like they're warning off thieves, or boasting; or both."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yes," said Ron, "but look! No matter what the design is, no matter what the image, they all have the same two vertical lines at the bottom, there and there."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry looked closer and sure enough, no matter what the crest design, valuable goods or manor on the vault door, they all contained the same two vertical lines at the bottom, which divided the base of the vault door into thirds. They were so well positioned in the images that at first it hadn't struck him as odd, merely focusing the view to the centre of the door./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry and Ron caught eyes and they new immediately what they needed to do, it was just about finding the right vault before it struck the Goblins above as odd that they hadn't returned./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Bill, you said that these things get traded between vaults like these, so we're looking for a collection of rare and potentially illegal goods."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They split up and started looking at the different doors for clues. Harry saw a few vaults that featured Chimaera based designs, but they seemed to be largely glorifying the creature and using its magnificent form as something of an intimidation./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Over here!" Came Bill's voice. "I think I've found it!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry and Ron rushed over to Bill, to find him standing in front of a vault door containing a group of dangerous creatures, plants and artifacts./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I saw this one," said Ron. "Looked like just a bunch of lies to scare people. You don't actually believe they have all those dragons in there, as well as Chimaeras and spiders and zombies and... all those plant thingies. I mean, the Dragons would fry the plants to begin with!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You're looking at it too literally Ron." Replied Bill slightly exasperated with his brother. "Look! Dragons, Chimaeras, Acromantulas. Then those plants there are Venomous Tentaculas, and Devil's Snare!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry looked closer and recognized the squirming plant as the one he'd been caught in whilst stopping Voldemort's return in his first year. He then looked closer at the zombies Ron had identified to see they looked familiar too./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Those aren't zombies either guys. Well, not technically anyway; they're Inferi."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Exactly," said Bill. "And they're only a few, but I'm willing to bet every galleon in these vaults that the other things have in common what these do."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What though?" Asked Ron./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""They all come from non-tradeable goods. Dragon eggs, Chimaera eggs, Acromantula eggs; they're all Class-A. The monument you need to turn the dead into Inferi, that's Class-B. Venomous Tentacula and Devil's Snare seeds, they're Class-C. This is the vault we need, if we could just find a way in... I was thinking if we all cast Reducto..."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry and Ron looked at each other before Ron told Bill, "We've got a better way."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Wordlessly, Ron and Harry walked back to where the Goblins' frozen bodies stood, each lifted one and carried them back to the vault door./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""One, two, three!" Ron counted, and at the same time they traced a forefinger of each Goblin down one of the lines they had identified earlier. Ready for anything to happen, and hoping beyond hope that they hadn't jusr subjected the Goblins to pure torture, they looked up at the vault door and were glad to see it melt away into nothingness./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They'd done it! But as they ran into the vault another sound struck their ears. The door that had been formed by the cart had disassembled and was beginning to restructure itself into a cart./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"This turned the trio frantic with their search, and determined to retrieve the Chimaera eggs and blood before they were caught./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They sprinted into the vault, which reminded Harry of the room of requirement when they were looking to hide things, only one thousand times more deadly./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They ran past all nature of magical items, from broomsticks to Cauldrons, they needed to find the eggs and blood quickly./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry saw some Dragon eggs on the bottom of a shelf to his left, and made a beeline for them. As he swung around the Dragon eggs and headed down the shelf he saw them, the Chimaera eggs, and the glass vials next to them could only be one thing./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I've got them!" He yelled to the others as he stuffed a few eggs and glass vials filled with blood into a small bag with an undetectable extension charm on it./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Bill, get the brooms! Ron, clear the way!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"As Harry spun around he saw a mountain of items go flying to the sides of the vault and brooms come flying out to each of them. He didn't know what could be so special or illegal about these brooms that earnen them a place down here, but they were out of alternatives./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The three of them leapt onto the broomsticks and flew their way out of the vault. As they entered the main chamber, Harry could see the cart arriving the highest level of Aurors. They needed to get out of there now!/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"As Ron and Bill raised their brooms to fly up to the main Gringotts lobby, Harry raised his span style="text-decoration: underline;"Elder/span wand and yelled, "Obliviate!" Wiping the memories of the two Goblins they'd come down with. He next pointed his wand to the torch that controlled the others as the cart pulled in to the Chamber./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Incendio!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry, Ron and Bill sped up to the exit of the bank and heard the Aurors behind them screaming curses up at them to no effect. Harry's charm had worked!/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They flew to be level with each other and Harry yelled, "We're really going to have to give these brooms everything they've got once we reach the lobby! We'll be vulnerable to curses up there!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The three of them sped through the entry into the bank the carts came down from and they leaned forward even further to urge their brooms when-/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Time seemed to stand still./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They had expected to get a little bit of extra speed out of the brooms but the increase they got was incredible. It was as if the brooms had been fitted with the flame-throwing engine Hagrid had fitted to his flying bike! They flashed out of the bank and soared up above Diagon Alley./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Harry looked back and saw that the twigs strapped to the end of their broomsticks had become balls of fire./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They turned their brooms and zapped over to 12 Grimmauld Place. They burst through the door and collapsed in a heap breathing heavily./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What the bloody hell was that?" Ron exclaimed as he rise to his feet slowly. "How in the burning-broomstick up a Goblin's arse did they know something was wrong and send those Aurors?! Do you think the Goblins-"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""It wasn't the Goblins," said Harry quickly. "Not the ones we were with anyway. Those vaults were the highest security. I'll bet they can see upstairs if one opens and which, make sure no one bewitches the Goblins with them like we did and break into someone else's vault./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""We were meant to be retrieving a body down there. As soon as they saw a vault get opened, they called the best." Harry replied./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They were worn out, bewildered and on the run from Gringotts and the run from the most powerful Aurors, but they'd done it. They had the Chimaera eggs and blood./p 


	7. Chapter 7 - Making Magic

p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"strongChapter 7: Making Magic/strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was a long and slow process, but so worth it. He'd waited so long for this moment that a few days made little difference; he'd have forever before long./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Now what he needed was a strong army and the force to lead. He had an army and he had power; but every one of them had had their wand snapped in half when they were sent to Nurmengard./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"This didn't matter however as Grindelwald had identified a whole new level of wand construction through his years in Nurmengard, just through his own thinking and what he'd heard. He'd gone to lengths no one else dared to because of silly nature and life laws. Stupid humans. Didn't they realise that once you were immortal, a master of death and magic, that you wrote the rules?!/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"These wands he was carving for himself and his army were made from Elephant Ivory, with cores ranging from three different materials; Basilisk Fang, Thestral Heart-string and Kappa hair./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was a standard combination, earthen non-magic material from a once living source, with a magical core. Wizards were too proud to use animals for their actual wand material and stuck to trees, but the real power came when the core material had known life in a much more real sense./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"As for the cores, the more powerful the creature the more power the wand would hold. Wandmakers foolishly stuck with life-giving creatures like Phoenix feathers and peaceful Dragon Heart-string. The greatest power however lay in the taking of life, so these cores were much more powerful; easy to come by too. Basilisks could be easily hatched by placing a chicken egg beneath a toad. Thestrals roamed wild in most forests, people just didn't know as if they hadn't seen death they were none the wiser as to their presence. As for Kappas, any water-hole where there had been more than one death almost definitely contained a Kappa; again easy to find./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"That would be the next stage after he hand finished carving these wands from the Elephant tusks; and he was nearly done. He was producing a variety of lengths and thicknesses of wand, and was certain that once a magical core had been added to each, there would be a suitable powerful wand for almost every member of his army./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Grindelwald knew that he, the most powerful wizard alive, carving these wands using the most powerful materials; meant there really was only going to be one wand on earth more powerful. The wand carved by Death himself./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"His old wand./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The Elder Wand./p 


	8. Chapter 8 - The Best Worst Thing

p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"strongChapter 8: The Best Worst Thing/strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was a long and slow process, but so worth it. He'd waited so long for this moment that a few days made little difference; he'd have forever before long./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Now what he needed was a strong army and the force to lead. He had an army and he had power; but every one of them had had their wand snapped in half when they were sent to Nurmengard./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"This didn't matter however as Grindelwald had identified a whole new level of wand construction through his years in Nurmengard, just through his own thinking and what he'd heard. He'd gone to lengths no one else dared to because of silly nature and life laws. Stupid humans. Didn't they realise that once you were immortal, a master of death and magic, that you wrote the rules?!/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"These wands he was carving for himself and his army were made from Elephant Ivory, with cores ranging from three different materials; Basilisk Fang, Thestral Heart-string and Kappa hair./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was a standard combination, earthen non-magic material from a once living source, with a magical core. Wizards were too proud to use animals for their actual wand material and stuck to trees, but the real power came when the core material had known life in a much more real sense./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"As for the cores, the more powerful the creature the more power the wand would hold. Wandmakers foolishly stuck with life-giving creatures like Phoenix feathers and peaceful Dragon Heart-string. The greatest power however lay in the taking of life, so these cores were much more powerful; easy to come by too. Basilisks could be easily hatched by placing a chicken egg beneath a toad. Thestrals roamed wild in most forests, people just didn't know as if they hadn't seen death they were none the wiser as to their presence. As for Kappas, any water-hole where there had been more than one death almost definitely contained a Kappa; again easy to find./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"That would be the next stage after he hand finished carving these wands from the Elephant tusks; and he was nearly done. He was producing a variety of lengths and thicknesses of wand, and was certain that once a magical core had been added to each, there would be a suitable powerful wand for almost every member of his army./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Grindelwald knew that he, the most powerful wizard alive, carving these wands using the most powerful materials; meant there really was only going to be one wand on earth more powerful. The wand carved by Death himself./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"His old wand./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The Elder Wand./p 


	9. Chapter 9 - Hogwarts

p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"strongChapter 9: Hogwarts/strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"In a tumble of ash, Ginny, George, Dean, Percy, Luna and Cho stepped out of the fireplace in Hermione's Headmistress office at Hogwarts./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"As they rose they saw Professor McGonagall, caretaking the Headmistress duties, seated behind the desk writing on some parchment. They had been sure to let her know ahead of time they'd be stopping through, and as a result she barely glanced up in the course of writing her letter, and only said, "Good luck," as four of the six left the office./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"-/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The school lake was cold, bleak and desolate when Dean and Percy reached its stoney edge./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""This," Dean thought to himself, "should be easy./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""We get the merpeople up, tell them the problem, get span style="text-decoration: underline;"the/span scales and be off. Simple."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dean looked up at the moonless sky, then over at Percy./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Percy was staring into the depths of the black lake, muttering to himself. He then took a deep breath, pointed his wand at the lake, and a jet of silver shot into the murky waters./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""That was a Patronus, wasn't it?" Asked Dean./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Percy turned to look at him and said, " We need to start matters as civilized as possible. I hardly think the Merpeople leader will just sacrifice the scales of his finest lady to us, but it's always good policy to start proceedings respectfully!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dean looked back at the water which started to move. All of a sudden, an official looking Merman burst through and a semicircle of his companion rose around him./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dean never had a hope of understanding the conversation going on between Percy and the chief Merman; the sounds didn't sound as though a human mouth should be capable of producing them./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dean stood there and looked back and forth between Percy and the Merpeople. He hoped they were being told how important this all was./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The conversation Percy and the Chief Merman were having was not progressing easily. They understood the magnitude of the problem, and seemed to understand the importance of just a few scales, however they were having a hard time accepting giving Wizards scales; their flesh; and receiving nothing in return but promises of not having to endure a battle they'd allegedly have to. Even when Voldemort attacked Hogwarts, he left the lake alone. The Merpeople really didn't see what they'd have to fear./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Percy's tension and nerves were growing, but he urged himself to remain calm. After all the time he'd spent working alongside Ministry officials he knew that if he lost his cool now then they wouldn't get anywhere. He decided he'd have to try a different tact./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Percy then began asking the Merpeople what they'd want in return, and tried to span style="text-decoration: underline;"address/span some of the Merpeople acting as guards for the Chief. "Disrupt them within," Percy thought. "Create disharmony between them. Make them fight amongst themselves and you've won the battle without so much as raising your wand."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He tried enticing them saying he would conjure and give them anything he reasonably could within his power. Anything./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"To their surprise the Merpeople receded just below the surface of the lake and had a discussion. On the meantime Percy brought Dean up to date with what had happened so far./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dean felt rather impatient with the matter and exclaimed, "Just get them to tell you what they bloody want and bloody give it to them!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The Merpeople rose from the lake, together this time, and said something to Percy. It seemed to shock him and when Percy relayed the translation to Dean, he understood why./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""They want their history taught at Hogwarts. And they want to have a Merperson teacher instruct it, and to be allowed Merchildren to be instructed by school teachers./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""They know we're not in charge at the school but they recognized use from the time we spent there. They don't get the chance to speak with us often since Dumbledore's death, and now they feel the need even more to remain educated, in power, and to have their past and customs understood."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""That's a lot," said Dean back to Percy./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Would Hermione enact it if we told her?" Percy asked in response./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dean thought to himself, "What would Dumbledore do?"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Of course!" Was the simple answer Dean gave. "But they have to understand that can only all happen after our quest. We need the scales now, and then to wipe out Grindelwald and his army; and only after all that will Hermione be able to return and keep our word."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Percy agreed and passed this message on to the Merpeople. They seemed happy with this response because moment's later a Mermaid swam up to Dean and Percy and handed them a small parcel wrapped in Seaweed./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""That's from the Merchieftainess," Percy told Dean./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""We've got it... We've got it!"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"-/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cho Chang and Luna Lovegood walked along the dirt trail through the Hogwarts grounds down to the edge of the forest. It was not a path as such, just a dirt trail where grass had stopped growing with the constant stream of students making their way between the castle and Care of Magical Creatures lessons./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Off to their left was Hagrid's Hut, and they could see from the flicker of light that he must have had a fire lit within. As they neared the forest they could begin to overhear the sounds of him playing a wizarding wireless./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Rather than settle her nerves, Cho found everything that was usually familiar or normal in her school days to be distraction and made her more and more nervous about the task ahead of them./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""My Daddy was going to start a radio station you know," said Luna dreamily as she twirled around to the music as they walked./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Really Luna?" Asked Cho politely./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Oh yes," said Luna, who didn't seem to have much more to say about it. Luna kept on dancing around as they approached the forest's edge./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Luna, do you know where along here the Faeries are going to be?"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Luna didn't even break from her dance as she said, "Wherever they want to be of course." As if this was an obvious answer of use to them./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cho was getting impatient and worried about what would happen if they returned without the ingredients that had been assigned to them and they had to wait another month./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Another month wasn't good enough. Another month and anything could have happened. Earth's population could be at the mercy of an evil Wizard ruler./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cho turned her back to the forest and looked up at the great castle that was Hogwarts. She thought back to the time she spent there and tried to imagine she had never left./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cho had been chosen by the Sorting Hat for the house of Ravenclaw. It had told her that her knowledge and wisdom were great, and that she had the thirst for knowledge that Rowena Ravenclaw herself had taken great pride in./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"If she, the thinker and inquisitive learner was part of the only group to return empty-handed... this just wasn't good enough./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I should have found out more about Faeries myself!" She thought. "I should have made sure I knew everything about them and not just trust Luna."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Luna's heart was in the right place, but her father Xenophilius Lovegood was renowned for not questioning anything he heard about a matter. As a result, his paper, The Quibbler, with the exception of the occasional article; was often not so much a factual and informative read as a far-fetched story one might here from a friend-of-a-friend./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Now here she was because she took the word of someone reliably "loony" and vague; and she was so intimidated by the challenge and their quest that she neglected all of the things she would usually have done./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"By this point Cho was even more frustrated with herself than she had been earlier, and turned back to face Luna fighting to keep tears out of her eyes when-/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Luna was no longer alone./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"There she was, at the forest's edge dancing around with her eyes closed; and there, dancing in the air around her... Faeries!/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cho ran down to them but as she entered they quickly fled back into the forest./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""They don't like loud noises like that you know," said Luna, again dreamily. "Loud running students want to hurt them."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cho finally felt like she understood, stuck her arms out and started dancing around like Luna had been doing./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It wasn't long from here. They'd only been dancing a few moments when a few Faeries started to join their number. Following this it was mere minutes before the air around them was full of Faeries dancing in mid-flight./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cho's mind was still turning the situation over. They had found the Faeries which was all very well, however they still needed to retrieve some wings and to somehow get a hold of a Unicorn horn./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cho was frightened that if she suddenly started talking about their quest, the Faeries would just flee again and they wouldn't be any better for having seen them./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"A thought struck Cho and she began humming along with the music they could overhear coming from Hagrid's Hut. When this worked she moved from humming to a sort of nonsense singing, just making random Jazz sounds to match the melody, and it was as if the Faeries had begun to hum along to the tune themselves./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Well," thought Cho, "here I go."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em /em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em"We need your help, Faeries,/embr /emAnd we all want you to be sure,/embr /emThat what we need, you to release,/embr /emHelps the /ememwhole/emem world and so more,"/em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The singing was easy for Cho, she just accompanied the melody with a standard rhyming pattern./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em /em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em"A Sorcerer who's evil,/embr /emHas arose from the grave,/embr /emAll the innocent he will kill,/embr /emMake the whole wide world his slave,/em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em /em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em"But there /emspan style="text-decoration: underline;"emis/em/spanem one small chance that survives,/embr /emBelieve me when I say our only hope,/embr /emMy friends and I will commit our lives,/embr /emBut we need your help so we can cope,/em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em /em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em"We don't want to hurt you or your friends,/embr /emThere's just a few things that we need,/embr /emSo that all our lives don't meet painful ends,/embr /emWe need your help now to succeed,/em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em /em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em"A complex spell to bind /ememus/emem all,/embr /emTo save the world and everything,/embr /emSo to stop /ememthe/emem earth from a great fall,/embr /emWe need the magic of the Faerie wing,/em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em /em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em"The wings of passed Faeries if /ememyou'd/emem bring here,/embr /emWe also /ememneed/emem the magic horn,/embr /emBut not from a plant /ememor/emem a deer,/embr /emWe need one from a Unicorn,/em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em /em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"em"We beg you Faeries, /ememand/emem wish you well,/embr /emWhen /ememthis/emem whole thing has unfurled,/embr /emBring us these ingredients for our spell,/embr /emAnd let us save the world."/em/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cho held her breath and looked at Luna, who was wide-eyed with amazement./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The Faeries continued flying around Cho and Luna during and after these improvised verses. Cho was careful to continue her slow dance on the spot after she had finished singing./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She looked up at the Faeries who were now looking at each other. They didn't know what was happening but the Faeries began flying in fast circles around them and then, in single file; sped off into the forest./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Cho and Luna stood there a little lost as to what had just happened when a row of Faeries flew out of the forest carrying a glowing parcel, and a much larger Faerie followed them out and said in a smooth voice, "Your honesty is true. We gift our very finest fallen comrades' wings and the very finest Unicorn horn. Good luck saviors of the world."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"-/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Am I to understand you have a request of me Ms Weasley?"/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dumbledore's kind voice spoke down from his portrait on the wall./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""We need Fawkes," Ginny replied./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Does he still exist? Is he still alive?" George asked quickly./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Of course." Dumbledore replied. "Phoenix's are immortal. Reborn from their ashes following their fire deaths."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Professor Dumbledore, we're doing a very advanced spell. It requires a huge range of rare ingredients, but it's going to help us stop Grindelwald."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Where did you find this magic Mr Weasley?" The sparkle was gone from his eyes. His face was now more an image of genuine concern. "I never knew you were interested in reading this type of literature."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""It was an old dark magic book; Harry, Ron and Hermione found it." Ginny interjected. "It's full of dark dark things, but... you know how strong Grindelwald is. We don't have any other options. It could destroy us but... We need to try."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Dumbledore's stare was long and hard./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I do not know where Fawkes has gone. On the death of their Master, a Phoenix will return to its birthplace and live alone for a number of years; and only then go on to find a worthy master./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""If your quest is noble as you say and is not just an easy way out as so much dark magic is... Fawkes will come to you. Right now he will still be loyal to me and what I fought for Mr and Ms Granger. If what you're doing is as essential and selfless as you're suggesting to me, I have no doubt that Fawkes will come to help you if you need him."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Ginny was nervous and knew she needed to tell Dumbledore more of the truth with regards to Fawkes's role. She looked up at her brother before saying, "Professor... once Fawkes helps us, he will actually die and will not regenerate."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"An unreadable fire lit up in Dumbledore's eyes. He seemed to be staring off into the distance at an object far behind the Weasley siblings./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""This is powerful, dark magic Mr and Ms Weasley. To require the death of so pure a creature. But it remains as I said, even if Fawkes is only reborn in the afterlife where my soul now rests; I am sure I will be happy to see him again."/p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Together they stepped back from the portrait and spent what felt like a long time thinking about the task ahead of them all./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Suddenly, the wall behind them split open with the top of a staircase carrying span style="text-decoration: underline;"their/span four friends./p  
p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Thanks Professor!" One of them yelled to McGonagall, and they went through the fireplace back to Grimmauld Place./p 


	10. Chapter 10 - The Stag's Assembly

div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;"strongChapter 10: The Stag's Assembly/strong/p  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px;"As Ginny, George, Dean, Percy, Luna and Cho fell through the fireplace, the rest of their friends were grouped around the boarder of the room with an enormous shining Cauldron sitting in the middle. There was a blue flame licking up the sides of the Cauldron which they were sure to avoid as they joined their friends with what they'd retrieved./p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;""It says we'll need to each add the ingredients in turn in the right portions, add our blood and say the incantation, 'emE pluribus unim bono malum superate abhinc ad/em emmortem/emem.'/em"/p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;"Hermione passed the book around until everyone had the incantation memorized. Whilst this was happening, Hermione walked in the other direction around the group performing a few nifty charms to perfectly split each substance into its perfect portion size./p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;"By the time everyone had memorized the words, all eyes returned to Hermione. Hermione looked to her left and right, and Neville and Kingsley rose with her and walked forward. She then conjured a silver blade out of thin air, and each made an incision on their forearm and let their blood run into the Cauldron. Finally, each with a hand on the large glass vial, they poured the Manticore blood they retrieved into the Cauldron and said as one, "E pluribus unim bono malum superate abhinc ad mortem."/p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;"There was a sizzle in the Cauldron and the blood turned black. The knife was then handed to Arthur Weasley who stepped forward with his wife. Together they gave blood before adding the Griffin feathers./p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;"This continued around the circle for each of the remaining items, the Mermaid scales, the Faerie wings, the Unicorn horn, the Dragon Heart, the Chimaera Egg and blood./p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;"As each contribution was made, the same thing happened. The blood stained the potion red, then the ingredients added to the potion contributed their colours to the mix; however the moment the incantation recited by the contributor finished, the potion flashed back to jet black./p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;"Finally it got round to George and Ginny. They really wished Fawkes would have turned up by now, however they were determined to not lose faith in what they were doing./p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;"They stepped up to the Cauldron together and added their blood to the mix. Now the potion began bubbling, as if knowing how close it was to completion./p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;"Receiving no hint of anything else being about to happen, they had no choice but to start reading out the incantation together./p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;"The instant they finished speaking, the potion blazed white. There was then a screech from the front door, and the firey form of Fawkes sped into the room and dove into the Cauldron which was instantaneously engulfed in flames. Each member of the group felt a sharp burn on their forearms where they made the cut and found the silver image of a stag with the mark of the Deathly Hallows immediately burned onto their skin./p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
p class="separator" style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; clear: both; text-align: center;" /p  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;" /p  
/div  
div dir="ltr" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"  
p style="margin: 0px;"It was done. The Stag's Assembly were united./p  
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	11. Chapter 11 - The Future Lost and Won

p style="text-align: center;"strongChapter 11: The Future Lost and Won/strong/p  
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p style="text-align: left;"span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They were nearly done./span/p  
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p style="margin: 0px;"All of this work was already paying off, and it was nearly complete. All of the wand core substances were set out in front of him and he was completing the last few he had crafted./p  
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p style="margin: 0px;"Once he had found his own wand, or it had found him; he threw them to his army who were all testing them as they came and found their's. There were a few wands, he could see out of the corner of his eye, that were still looking for their master, but almost all of his army were now armed with these wands that would destroy any wooden challenger./p  
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p style="margin: 0px;"As he finished the last wand and tossed it into the small group of his followers yet without a wand, Grindelwald rose to his feet and burst out laughing. The world was finally his! He had all of the power, the wisdom and the-/p  
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p style="margin: 0px;""AAAAAAAAARGH!"/p  
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p style="margin: 0px;"Grindelwald's scream of unimaginable agony split the ears of those around him. They looked up at him in shock as he felt his soul rip from itself. It was as if the force giving him health and strength had been physically torn from his body. Suddenly it ended and Grindelwald collapsed to the ground light headed and dazed, He didn't understand how it could be, but he had a strong suspicion of what had just happened. The force giving him this immortality that had allowed him to return from death; was gone. He was now doomed to age like normal men, like he once did./p  
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p style="margin: 0px;"Grindelwald looked up at the six of his army unable to find wands that suited them, holding six useless wands. He pointed his own Ivory and Basilisk Fang wand at them all and muttered, "Avada Kedavra."/p  
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p style="margin: 0px;"In a great flash of green light, all six of them fell dead at once./p  
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p style="margin: 0px;""Yes," Grindelwald thought. "I am the most powerful wizard there has ever been leading an army of unstoppable and unbeatable warriors. Magically or through sacrifice, I will recapture eternal youth and live like this forever, as the leader of the world and the only true Master of Death./p  
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